The ''Heureux'' was a ''Centaure'' class

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. She cruised in the Mediterranean in 1794 and 1795. Under Captain Jean-Pierre Etienne, she took part in the

Expedition to Egypt The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman territories of Ottoman Egypt, Egypt and Ottoman Syria, Syria, proclaimed to defend French First Republic, French tr ...

, and in the

Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the ...

. The first ship to spot the British fleet on 1 August, ''Heureux'' fought the next day and was forced to strike her colours. Too badly damaged for repairs, she was burnt on 29 August 1798.

Notes

References

*Demerliac, Cmdt. Alain, ''Nomenclature des navires français de 1774 a 1792''. Editions ANCRE, Nice. *Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2015) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. . Ships of the line of the French Navy Centaure-class ships of the line 1782 ships Ships built in France Maritime incidents in 1798 Ship fires Scuttled vessels Shipwrecks of Egypt Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea {{France-line-ship-stub